Any plans in the future to educate us less than creative people on how to make rags? I'm dying to try them in Wisconsin and Michigan. By the way, several steelies have fallen victim to the pink worm on my last two trips.

Still plan on doing one soon ... fishing every day right now and trying to work on Alaska bookings, so time is really tight right now, I promise I'll get one up soon!

For rags ...You can buy backer rod in most stores. Its is also called caulk saver. 3/8" is what I prefer, grey is what you will find in most hardware stores. you'll have to shop around for white. cut the foam rod in 1 inch bits(or what ever size you prefer) take your favorite yarn color and a yarn needle. string on the foam bits like popcorn through the sides. Clip them apart so you have yarn hanging from each side. Rig them up by putting a bead or sequin above your 1/0 or larger(barbless) hook. Thread your mono through the ends of the rag. slide it down to the hook. tie it to your swivel and you are good to go. Also you can go to most fly stores and buy tubes for tube flies.
You can tie your favorite fly pattern on the tube, leave some untied space at the end. pop a hole in a rod piece and slide it onto the head of the fly.(put some fly laquer under neath) Now you have a custom aerofly.
Marabous are popular, I prefer shrimp and egg-like patterns. Leech patterns work well too.

[This message has been edited by KORE (edited 03-25-99).]

I have been tying those tube flies on small dia. teflon tubing. I like to add a small amount of crystal flash (4 to 5 strands doubled over) to them for that extra color. I have tied them in a number of colors, some in two colors. Remember the rags that Bob had on the daily reports on day. Try contrasting patterns. Black and white, pink and black, also match shrimp and egg colors for no bait rivers. You can fish these either above or below a corkey or egg type drifter. When fished above it gives a larger profile plus the marabou looks more life like. Best of luck.